An essay by Carmen Harris, co-owner of Magnus on Water in Biddeford, has been published in the inaugural issue of For the Culture.
The essay is titled I Have No Idea How I Got Here. In it Harris reflects on identity, opportunity and her path to founding a cocktail and restaurant in Biddeford Maine. Here’s a brief excerpt,
Out of the primordial dust of this pandemic, my prayer is that more Black women will be given the chance, access points, space, and self-permission to say yes to the unknown. The spiritual knowing within will guide us. Trust it. Know it. Cultivate it. It is she who longs to be discovered and create within you. She whispers to you, until you know you can do this, and you can do it better than anyone else. Even if, like me, you have never worked one day in a restaurant before the moment you opened your very own. She wraps you in the confidence to say ‘yes’ to the unknown with the knowing you cannot fail. She is with you, always.
For the Culture is a “biannual printed food magazine that celebrates Black women and femmes in food and wine. The stories in For the Culture are about Black women throughout the diaspora, written by Black women and photographed and illustrated by Black women. It is the first magazine of its kind.”